The Sörnäinen harbour rail line () was a side rail track in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

, built in the 1860s, and dismantled in 2009–2010. It was opened in 1863,Olli Pohjanpalo
”Kiskot tiensä päässä Helsingin rantoja kiertävät syrjäraiteet katoavat metri metriltä
– ''

Helsingin Sanomat , abbreviated ''HS'' and colloquially known as , is the largest subscription newspaper in Finland and the Nordic countries, owned by Sanoma. Except after certain holidays, it is published daily. Its name derives from that of the Finnish capital ...

'', April 4, 1990. Retrieved September 27, 2023. (in Finnish) a year after Finland's first railway line Helsinki–Hämeenlinna. The harbour rail ran from

Pasila railway station Pasila station (, ; previous Swedish name was ''Fredriksberg'' until 1990) is a railway station in Helsinki, Finland, approximately north of Helsinki Central. It is the second busiest railway station in Finland, after Helsinki Central, and take ...

to Sörnäinen Harbour to serve the port facilities. Originally the line was long, running through today's Teollisuuskatu in

Vallila Vallila () is a Subdivisions of Helsinki#Neighbourhoods, neighbourhood in Helsinki, the capital of Finland. Vallila is a central-northern neighbourhood, bordered by Pasila to the west and Alppiharju to the south. Like Kallio, Vallila is mostly re ...

, but in 1965 it was re-routed around the inner city area via Pasila Rail Tunnel and

Kumpula Kumpula () is a verdant neighbourhood in Helsinki, bordered by Eastern Pasila to the west, Vallila to the south, Käpylä and Koskela to the north and Toukola and Arabianranta to the east. As of January 1, 2003, Kumpula had approximately 3,6 ...

. The track was mainly used by trains going to the harbour, but since 1901 it was branched all the way south to Hakaniemi market square. Sörnäinen Harbour was closed down after 145 years of operation in November 2008, when the new Vuosaari Harbour was opened in the eastern suburb, and the facilities moved there. Since its closure, the area has been redeveloped for residential, retail and leisure use, as part of the

Kalasatama Kalasatama (; ; literally translated "fish port") is a neighbourhood in the city of Helsinki, Finland. The area is officially part of the Sörnäinen district; and like Sörnäinen, Kalasatama is located a little more than one kilometre north fro ...

development. Another branch line, the long

Helsinki harbour rail The Helsinki harbour rail line () was a side rail track in Helsinki, Finland, built in the 1890s, and dismantled in 2009. Originally it led from the Helsinki Central railway station, via the city's coastline, to Katajanokka. Its original length w ...

was built in the 1890s. It led from the

Central Station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

to the West Harbour and

Katajanokka Katajanokka (; ) is a neighbourhood of Helsinki, Finland, with around 4000 inhabitants in 2005. The district is located adjacent to the immediate downtown area, though in the first major town plan for Helsinki from the mid-18th century, the area ...

. The track was also dismantled in 2009 as all container traffic was moved to Vuosaari Harbour in 2008.

References

External links

{{Commons category-inline Transport in Helsinki History of Helsinki Sörnäinen Defunct railroads